Olivia Darwin

“Olivia!” The sticky off-white walls of the waiting room barely allowed the sound of her name to echo off them, Or maybe it was all of the people closely stuffed together that seemed to absorb her name.

“Here, I’m here!” She claimed practically jumping up from her corner seat in the back of the room. Shuffling through the field of legs, smells and death stares Olivia made sure to keep her eye contact on the attendant. ‘If eye rolls were a person’ she thought to herself. Reaching her hand out as she closed the distance between them, “Olivia” she said with a smile. “I assumed” The attendant snorted looking at her hand as she started to make her way to the offices in the back.

Her pants were a faded maroon from what Olivia could only assume was years of wear. Her matching jacket needed to be cleaned, evidence of her multiple cats and stains from lonely tv night dinners dribbled here and there. 
Turning into a doorway Olivia could see her name tag boldly stating ‘Martha’. “Marcus will be with you shortly to go over…things” Her caffeine and nicotine stained teeth oozed the word ‘things’ as her unmanaged brows lifted with hast. Martha turned and stomped off, her frizzy overly hair-sprayed hair not moving an inch.

Olivia looked around the office. The same sweaty walls surrounded her, decorated with certificates claiming outstanding client care. Olivia rolled her eyes at the nonsense, why reward someone for human decency? That should just be the norm. In any case, client care wasn’t her experience. She had to fight tooth and nail to get anyone to listen to her. How the mighty have fallen.

This wouldn’t have been the case 5 years ago, Mrs. Jacob Tut could have had anything she wished for. Life was better than any dream, any movie she could have ever thought up. Jacob Tut, was a wealthy entrepreneur that changed the tech industry forever and Olivia was the support he needed to get there.



Jacob and Olivia attended the same high school in a small town of 5000 people. She wasn’t always the polished diamond she is now - and back then everyone, not just including - but especially Jacob, only saw her as a lump of coal. He taunted, teased and even tried to fight her once. She was the smart girl, not an athlete but had the build of one. Life had not been kind to her and her lack of self care could only be described as self-abuse. Back then she hated herself, she was smart without even trying and her interests were, different from the other kids. Olivia never understood why ‘different’ always seemed to bring out the cruel. 


As she grew, her natural features and self-love started to blossom & in university, she found herself. She started to work out after classes when everyone else was partying, woke up early to manage her long brown hair and frame her stunningly blue eyes with mascara. She studied, not just her class material but researched it further in-detail making her an expert in all her subjects. On graduation day she was head of her class and was suppose to be the “Dux” for her year, but she never attended the ceremony. Olivia never did anything for acknowledgement, what was the point? She didn’t have parents to tell her how proud they were of her, or friends to lift her up when she was down. She only had herself, and that was good enough for her.

It wasn’t until 2 years after university that Jacob and Olivia ran into each other again. Olivia wandered into an overly crowded bar downtown in mid October to meet a Tinder date. She was dressed in a simple Black dress with high heeled boots and a gold jacket. She was polished and well put together with her long hair pulled back into a bun, blue eyes framed with a hint of a smoke and her full lips dotted with gloss. 
Jacob noticed her as soon as she walked in. He was in the middle of shotgunning beers with the boys when he lowered his tall boy. His black v-neck masked the spillage and the dark wash on his jeans hugged his impressive thighs. “Man, you lost! Next round is on you Bro!” one of the neanderthal’s cried out. “Yah, I got you” Jacob replied, thankful for the excuse to go to the bar. ‘Who was this woman?’ He thought to himself. Same old Jacob, can’t see a diamond for the coal.

After that the two were inseparable. Olivia was a blessing, she pushed him into his dreams and then steadied him when he’d attempt to self-sabotage. It had been a gruelling 5 years of serious work, but all worth it when they succeeded. Jake was impulsive and a self-described hopeless romantic. Olivia was more reserved, cool and collected - but when Jacob proposed after only a year of dating, Olivia was ecstatic. It wasn’t a grand gesture but she could tell he did what he thought was necessary. When it came time to say ‘I do” Olivia suggested that they elope, curbing the big wedding ordeal due to her lack of family and friends. Jacob agreed and after only 6 short months they were husband and wife. Olivia was relieved when he still didn't notice her. Still didn't put two and two together, that she was the same girl he use to torment.

“Uh, Olivia?” A deep voice boomed her out of her thoughts. “Oh, You scared me!” Olivia said grabbing her chest as she turned around. “Sorry about that M’am.” A chubby, over-worked, balding man shuffled into the office closing the door behind him. The room instantly felt smaller. “I’m Marcus, I’ll be handling the Will of your late husband Jacob…Toot” He grunted as he lowered himself into the hand-me-down office chair. “It’s Tut” Olivia replied softly, “Oh my apologies, Jacob Tut.” His mismanaged moustache twitched as he dabbed the beads of sweat forming on his forehead. “Sorry for your loss” He mumbled robotically, “Thank you” she said as she reached for a tissue from her purse. Olivia was dressed in all black, all of her clothing was pressed and spotless, her hair was pulled back in a tight low bun. Straightening her back as she crossed her ankles tucking her kitten heels behind the leg of her chair. Marcus looked up, his tired brown eyes hovering over her for second before opening the folder marked “TUT, JACOB”.

Marcus habitually rocked back in his chair as his eyes skimmed the documents. He was focused and completely unbothered by the squeaky cries, begging for him to be still. Letting out a heavy sigh Marcus looked up “Alright Olivia, I see here that Mr. Too- Mr. Tut’s, x’cuse me, Will was amended just before his passing?” Olivia dabbed her eyes as if on cue, “Yes, we both thought it would be a good idea… He just wasn’t responding to treatment” She stared blankly at a chipped spot on the desk. 
“I see...” Marcus hummed as he dabbed more salty beads. “Well, I can’t tell you what this file has done to the office. We all damn near threw away our cigarettes!” Olivia faked a knowing nod as the word ‘Idiot’ flashed threw her eyes. “Sorry that was insensitive, I don’t mean to salt your wounds here.” Marcus looked to the wall as if it could help ease the tension that was building. “It looks like Jacob left everything to you. So we’ll go ahead and release the funds - you can pick up that cheque at the front desk there.. Oh, and your keys to the house will be there as well… Now as for the cars.. That might take some time as we don’t keep them here, they get stored in a different facility.” Marcus was rambling off all the things that got locked away by Jacobs family after he passed. “Sorry again for putting you through this whole thing… Money brings out the worst in people.. Even when your supposed to be family” he said as he stood, a hint of compassion seemed to flash through his eyes.

Olivia couldn’t help but wonder if the police report was in the folder. The whole investigation was needless and time consuming. Marcus led her to the front desk, where he hovered until she collected her package. “If you have any questions you can reach me here.” Marcus handed her his card, the edges were bent and there was a smudge of something in the middle. Half smiling she welled up tears in her eyes “Thank you”. Olivia put the package containing the overly large cheque and her house keys in her purse and strided out of the building.

Once in her car a safe distance away from prying eyes, she pulled out a small black book and a marble pen. Finding the ribbon marked page she clicked her pen open and crossed off another name down the list… “Jacob Tut”